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All across the Western U.S., our last remaining herds of wild horses are being violently rounded up by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and forced into government holding pens. These horses are supposedly put up for adoption, but few are actually adopted into long-term homes. Most are warehoused or end up being shipped to Canada or Mexico for slaughter.

According to federal officials, the roundups are necessary because the land is overpopulated by wild horses and could become uninhabitable to other wildlife. The truth is that BLM has leased millions of acres of the wild-horse and burro rangelands to cattle interests. The land, which was mandated in 10 states for America’s wild horses and burros by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, is now being grazed by 7 million head of cattle. The cattle are eating all the forage and drinking up the scarce water supply, and the wild horses are being blamed and forced out of their homes.

I have a special affection for wild horses not only because they are fellow vegetarians but also because they represent freedom and the wild spirit within all of us. I have written to my legislators and the BLM to demand that they stop the wild-horse roundups in Nevada, Montana, and Utah. I donate to horse rescue groups and sanctuaries, but unfortunately, providing sanctuary for horses is very expensive. Most of the sanctuaries are already stretched past their limit.

I am afraid that the only way that the wild-horse herds will survive is if the market for beef dries up. As long as there is a demand for beef, the interests of the cattle ranchers will override the interests of the wild horses, and the horses will have nowhere to live and no range to call their own. When all is said and done, the only real solution to the problem is to convince people to stop eating cows.

Please add your voice to mine and e-mail the BLM at director@blm.gov to let the agency know that the survival of wild horses on their native lands must take precedent over cattle grazing.

20 Comments

Perfectly and Beautifully put Kerry!!! I ache for an evolved humanity that gets this so naturally that we will no longer even need to post such calls for help. I am quite the romantic, and a bit gullible, so I am presently sensing that, in spite of the ignorance, insanity and moral wreckage so apparent in humanity’s behavior today, there is also a very quiet, and yet profoundly powerful revolution going on, paralleling the insanity, an undercurrent leading ultimately to one hell of a 100th monkey effect, and one heaven of a reason for celebration… But that’s just me, LOL

To be sure, I do not say these things from a naive or uninformed position. My research has shown me evil on a level that could have easily led me to believe that all is lost and hopeless, resistance is futile. But there is this other thing going on in the world today – NGO’s growing in larger and larger numbers, children growing up with a new understanding that transcends previously ignorant comatose humankind.

These quantum jumps in evolution have happened before. I suspect we may very well be at one of those amazing moments, or fairly close to it. Keep Hope alive in spite of what so often seems like a never ending dark night of the soul en mass…. Thank you again Kerry for all you do so faithfully and so well, from such a caring and knowing Intelligent Heart…. Love and Light, Sweetsie boy….

he wild horses on BLM land are so much more important then the cattle!! i adopted one once . but that does not seem enough!! it makes me so sad to think of any of these beautiful creatures ever being round up and sent to slaughter.
the cattle are destroying our environment as well as the horses!! the horses must take precedence!! please let me know what i can do that would really make a difference.
thank you
jennifer

if only people would stop eating beef this would not be an issue

Patty Bowers says...

March 26th, 2010, 7:57 pm

Loved the article and LOVED glennlee’s comments above. I agree 100%! And afterall, we have no choice but to keep fighting the good fight and stay positive. BRAVO PETA too! Who better to fight the good fight than the world’s most successful and brilliant animal rights org!

Mohammad Zain says...

March 26th, 2010, 11:23 pm

u know what

how about ALL ANIMAL CRUELTY all over the world JUST COME TO AN END ALREADY

Please allow the West to keep the land open to the wild horses who act as part of its heritage.

Thank you for your compassion.

karen bell says...

March 27th, 2010, 9:04 am

I have seen starving dehydrated horses in the wild in Nevada near Pahrump. This is not a sight one wishes to see. We have a lot of drought here in Nevada. I would like the BLM to leave the horses wild and provide support in the form of water, food and shelter in hard times and cold. There’s nothing like the site of a band of wild horses grazing in a neighborhood of homes which I caught on my early morning paper route. Enchanting!

Have mercy on these creatures that God almightty created remember that one day you will answer to this barbic act.

Sharon Kennedy says...

March 27th, 2010, 10:17 am

The voice of one citizen represents the sentiments of 10,000 constituents — I want to know why when people speak up on issues concerning animals, the marginalized and for justice for all creation, we are ignored by the very people who we trust to do wisdom for our nation? The horses are slaughtered, homeless people die in alleyways rank with garbage, why?

Why do we ignore the laws of God and then expect Him to bless our nation, our families, our friends with peace and prosperity? In this season of Easter we know what we have to do as Christians remind our leaders that Christ died on the cross to give justice to all creation. We must be persistent in prayers to thwart those who want to kill and destroy just so they can have the delight of an extra buck in their pockets.

Horses are beautiful free spirited animals and should be left alone to roam free. They have as much right to the land as any human does.

Sherrie Stangel505q.com says...

March 28th, 2010, 3:50 am

STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANNE PICKARD says...

March 28th, 2010, 2:47 pm

It is a crying shame that our horses are being shipped to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered, I thought that by closing the slaughter houses here in the USA, the horses somehow could be saved, but I am wrong. Apparently the BLM is not listening to anybody yet, so we have to keep plugging away to try to change their attitude

Linda says...

March 29th, 2010, 10:18 am

Please do not kill these free spirited animals, the horses are unique and special. We already kill everything in sight, must we kill the horses too???
Man is cruel and one day man will pay the price for all the killings of the wild. Spare the horses, if you have a heart that beats, show us!!
Sincerely, Linda

Miro says...

March 29th, 2010, 3:35 pm

I just sent them an e-mail. I really hope someone reads it.

Pamela says...

March 31st, 2010, 10:14 am

America is just not going to stop until they kill off everything that is meant to run wild. I am so disgusted with how this country handles animal welfare issues.

An excellent article except wild horses are being rounded up in other states besides NV, MT and UT. The others are CA, WY, AZ, CO, WA, OR, ID. In other words they are being removed from all 10 western states where there are any left. According to some stats there may only be 15,000 left free in all of these states put together. The BLM is “managing them for extinction and other agencies like the US Fish and Game and the US Forestry Dept . are helping.
So far the last roundup done this past winter has resulted in 77 horse deaths and 40 miscarriages of late term foals. Nw some of the horses are sick with Pigeon Fever–called that because of large lesions mostly on the chests. All of these deaths were unnecessary .
For more info see http://www.theCloudFoundation.org , http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com and http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com/
ALL ROUNDUPS MUST STOP !!!

Anne G says...

April 4th, 2010, 8:39 pm

Unfortunately, stopping cattle production will not prevent wild horse populations from reproducing at a rate that cannot be sustained by rangeland ecosystems. Even if the horses had the entire range to roam, they would multiply so quickly that they could severely damage vegetation and the habitats necessary for sustaining other types of wildlife. The issue is not as cut and dry as stopping cattle production, so people should take care to educate themselves about the entirety of the issue. Horse population management will need to continue (even if cattle production stops), or the horses will eat themselves into eventual starvation.

Joy says...

April 5th, 2010, 9:06 pm

I live in Southern Oregon and have had the privelege on multiple occasions to see herds of wild horses roaming in the BLM land near my cabin. Each time, I’m brought to tears by their beauty. The heartbreaking reality is that they’re taken away from their natural environment to make way for the burgers. The free range cows make a mess of the forest, tromping through the natural springs, leaving cow pies in otherwise prestine swimming holes. I urge everyone to take a stand and write to the BLM!!

Brendan H says...

April 8th, 2010, 8:06 pm

It is a shame that all of the horses are being sent to other countries for slaughter. Other countries such as mexico don’t have any standards for euthanization. We need to bring back horse euthanization to the U.S. where our good ‘ol friend the horse can be put to rest in knowledgeable American hands.

Jamie says...

July 1st, 2012, 9:38 pm

I just finished watching “Wild Horses and Renegades” and I am sick by what I saw the BLM is doing to our wild mustangs. Those horses and their babies do not stand a chance against the helicopters hovering and driving them in the hot sun only to send them to slaughter. The people involved in this system should be prosicuted for murder. How dare they do that to any living thing? He who is capable of commiting these acts has to be sick in the head and doesn’t deserve to be free in this country! No doubt, there are ways to “fix” a mare so it can not have a baby. I’d rather see my tax dollars going for a prevention program than the slaugtering of these poor animals and it would be more humane than what I just saw in the film.

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